Gustav Holst: The Planets, The Mystic Trumpete - 2002 [DVD-Audio]
DVD Decrypter ISO, scans, mds | 4.15 GB | NAXOS / 5.11004 | 2002 | Sound: PPCM 5.1, 2.0 24/44.1, DTS 5.0, DD 5.1
Performers: David Lloyd-Jones, Claire Rutter, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Royal Scottish National Chorus
Is there any orchestra music lover anywhere, who has not yet heard the planets? I have for long, long years cherished the several versions recorded at one time or another by the late Sir Adrian Boult - who premiered the work - but the new Naxos version with the Scottish National Orchestra, conducted by David Lloyd-Jones, need not suffer from hallowed comparisons. Perhaps one starts out with this music, revelling in the large moments, rhythmed and swelling and soaring; only to later linger more and more often into musing about the brilliant innovations of the composer's use of the orchestra, along with less of the riot of life and more of the fading away into unfathomable, mysterious regions.
In any case, the new CD ... and the new multichannel DVD audio disc release, even more so ... gives plenty to relish on both counts. While the 16-bit CD is bright and wide and clear; the dvd audio disc is multichannel and yields up that much more of everything except distortion. Particularly in dvd audio, often also available at a bargain Naxos price, one senses the care Holst seems to have lavished upon the orchestration of this musical extravaganza. He goes Berlioz and Rimsky-Korsakov one better, as it were, uniting his musical ideas with the very timbres of the solos and orchestra sections which play them. This must have been almost unbearably striking in 1916, so close by just a few years on the heels of the riot that premiered Stravinky's Rite of Spring in Paris, just a few years earlier. That the disk finishes with a genuine first, the recording of Holst's Mystic Trumpeter scena for soprano and orchestra, only reminds a listener once again that Naxos can lead the pack when it wants to do so. Bravo, again. Highly recommended for sound, performance, and repertoire. Put this right next to Sir Adrian Boult, on the keeper shelves. Yes, keeper. And if you have one of those fancy surround sound, home theater setups handy, put on the compatible dvd audio/dolby pressing to celebrate just how much music a good multichannel system can put out, in between those movies.
DVD AUDIO: Familiar, Hearty Planets w rarity Trumpeter, 4 Jul 2003
By Dan Fee "music fan aka drdanfee" (Berkeley, CA USA)
On this DVD:
1. (The) Planets
Composed by Gustav Holst
Performed by Royal Scottish National Chorus, Royal Scottish National Orchestra
Conducted by David Lloyd-Jones
2. (The) Mystic Trumpeter
Composed by Gustav Holst
Performed by Royal Scottish National Orchestra
with Clare Rutter
Conducted by David Lloyd-Jones
